Auburn forward Jaylin Williams lands deal with Denver Nuggets
Auburn forward Jaylin Williams landed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night following the conclusion of the 2024 NBA Draft, sources told Auburn Live.
What is an Exhibit 10 contract? First introduced in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), an Exhibit 10 contract is a mechanism for teams to bring in players to compete in training camp. They function as one-year minimum contracts, but most of the contract is non-guaranteed.
Williams will compete for a roster spot this summer. He can earn a two-way deal with his summer league play. Other teams can also grab Williams after summer workouts, but the Nuggets would have first right of refusal.
Sources told Auburn Live that Williams was under strong consideration to be drafted by the Denver Nuggets or Dallas Mavericks at the end of the second round. The Nuggets ended up trading out of their final pick and the Mavericks went the international route with their pick.
Williams played five seasons at Auburn. This past season, Williams scored 12.4 points per game, grabbed 4.4 rebounds per game, shot a career high 39.5 percent from three, shot a career high 57.4 percent from the field, and averaged two assists per game. He scored 20-plus points eight times last season and shot 70 percent or better from the field in 10 different games last season, including seven times in SEC play.
Williams finished his Tigers’ career with 1,305 points (21st all time) and 141 career games (1st all time). He started 92 games and averaged over 21 minutes per game over five seasons.
There remains six players drafted from Auburn in the Bruce Pearl era. Chuma Okeke, Isaac Okoro, Sharife Cooper, JT Thor, Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith Jr. have all been drafted into the NBA since 2019. If you wanted to include Baylor’s Davion Mitchell, who Pearl signed and played his freshman season at Auburn, it would make it seven drafted players.
There were only six players drafted from 1994 to 2019 before Pearl’s arrival.
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Sports Illustrated’s draft profile said this of Williams prior to the draft:
He’s an underrated positional passer and a smart player, producing 74 assists to only 39 turnovers last season. He’s a decent rebounder for a forward, but could be better cleaning the glass. Leveraging his high IQ and ability to be a high floor, connecting piece should be attractive to NBA teams.
The 3-point shot has been inconsistent over the past four years, but we’ve seen enough to feel optimistic about it translating to the NBA. Over his four year career, Williams knocked down 33% of his triples. He is also a quality free throw shooter which is another reason to believe in the jumper, converting on nearly 75% of his free throws in his college career.
A 6-foot-8 with the ability to do a bit of everything, he projects to be a quality role player at the next level. While at Auburn, Williams has played alongside numerous NBA talents. He’s filled multiple roles and has showcased versatility and the ability to adapt to what the team needs. His skillset and ability to slot into many different types of lineups makes him an easier fit on nearly any team relative to other second-round talents.
